Francophonie

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La Francophonie is an international organisation of French-speaking countries and governments, and also, in French, to the community of French-speaking people . Formally known as the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) or the International Organization of La Francophonie, the organisation comprises fifty-five member states and governments and thirteen observers. The prerequisite for admission is not the degree of French usage in the member countries, but a prevalent presence of French culture and French language in the member country's identity, usually stemming from France's interaction with other nations in its history. Few of the member states are majority French-speaking aside from France and its overseas possessions, and sub-national members. French functions in several other member states as a common language while having little current presence in the other members, being that the links are mainly historical and cultural.

French geographer Onésime Reclus, brother of Élisée Reclus, coined the word Francophonie in 1880 to refer to the community of people and countries using the French language. In addition to referring to the international organisation, Francophonie may also be used to reference the worldwide community of those people whose native language or second language is French (i.e., the French Sprachraum). Francophonie was then coined a second time by Léopold Sédar Senghor, founder of the Négritude movement, in the review Esprit in 1962, who assimilated it to Humanism .

The modern Francophonie was created in 1970. Its motto is égalité, complémentarité, solidarité (equality, complementarity, and solidarity), alluding to France's motto. Started as a small club of Northern French-speaking countries, it has since evolved into an organisation whose numerous branches cooperate with the organisation's member states in the fields of culture, science, economy, justice, and peace.

Structure

The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie has an observer status at the UN General Assembly.

*20 Mar 1970: Agency for Cultural and Technical Co-operation (ACCT) (Agence de coopération culturelle et technique)

*4 Dec 1995: Intergovernmental Agency of the Francophonie (Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie)

*Dec 1998: International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIF) (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie)

Executive Secretariat (Secretaries-general)

* Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt) : 16 Nov 1997 - 31 Dec 2002

* Abdou Diouf (Senegal) : 1 Jan 2003 - present

Summits

Summits of the Francophonie are held every two years, at which time the leaders of the member states have an opportunity to meet and develop strategies and goals for the organisation.

Past Summits:

Future summit:

Quebec City, Canada (2008) (for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City)

Ministerial conferences

Permanent council

The Permanent Council of the Francophonie consists of Ambassadors of the member countries, and, like the ministers' conferences, its main task is to plan future summits and also to supervise the implementation of summit decisions on a day-to-day basis.

Intergovernmental agency

The Intergovernmental Agency of the Francophonie is the main operator of the cultural, scientific, technical, economic and legal cooperation programs decided at the Summits. The Agency's headquarters are in Paris and it has three regional branches in Libreville, Gabon; Lomé, Togo; and Hanoi, Vietnam.

Missions

The Charte de la Francophonie defines the role and missions of the organisation. The current charter was adopted in Antananarivo, on November 23, 2005. The last summit held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 26-27 November 2004 saw the adoption of a strategic framework for the period 2004-2014.

French language, cultural and linguistic diversity

The primary mission of the organization is the promotion of the French language as an international language and the promotion of worldwide cultural and linguistic diversity in the era of economic globalisation. In this regard, countries that are members of the Francophonie have contributed largely to the adoption by the UNESCO of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (October 20, 2005).

Peace, democracy and human rights

Similar to organization such as the Commonwealth of Nations, the Francophonie have in its stated aims the promotion of democracy and human rights. Following the November 3rd 2000 Déclaration de Bamako , the Francophonie has given itself the financial means to attain a number of set objectives in that regard.

In recent years, some participating governments, notably the government of Quebec and Canada, pushed for the adoption of a Charter in order for the organisation to sanction member States that are known to have poor records when it comes to the protection of human rights and the practice of democracy. Such a measure was debated at least twice but was never approved.

Members

The official list of members is available at the Francophonie website

Country	Status	Year joined	Language	Notes
	member	1999	Albanian official language	approximately 30% of young Albanians choose French as their first foreign language
	member	2004	Catalan official language	president of France is co-prince of Andorra
	member	1970	officially trilingual, French included	French is the native language of about 37% of the population. . Belgium's French community is also a member separately.
* French Community of Belgium	member	1980	French official language	a community of Belgium
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	1993	Bulgarian official language	French is spoken by 9% as additional language
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	1970	French official language	former Belgian colony
	member	1993	Khmer official language	former French colony
	member	1991	officially bilingual, French included	over 90% of country was a French colony
	member	1970	Officially bilingual, French included	the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick are participating governments; much of Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes formed part of former French Colonies (as part of New France).
*	participating government	1977	officially bilingual, French included	province of Canada; former French colony Acadia, New France.
*	participating government	1971	French official language	province of Canada; former French colony Canada, New France.
	member	1996	Portuguese official language	Former Portuguese colony with many neighboring French-speaking countries.
	member	1973	officially bilingual, French included	former French colony
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	1977	officially trilingual, French included	former French colony
	member	1977	French official language	former Belgian colony
	member	1981	French official language	former French colony
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	1977	officially bilingual, French included	former French colony
	member	1979	English official language	former French colony (first empire), later British colony, Antillean Creole a French-based creole language is spoken by 90% of the population.
	member	1983	Arabic official language	historical Francophone elite
	member	1989	officially trilingual, French included	Former Spanish colony surrounded by French-speaking countries.
	member	2001	Macedonian official language
	member	1970	French official language
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	2004	Greek official language	French is understood and spoken by 8% of the population
	member	1981	French official language	former French colony
	member	1979	Portuguese > official language	country surrounded by French-speaking countries. Former Portuguese colony
	member	1970	officially bilingual, French included	former French colony
	member	1991	Lao official language	former French colony
	member	1973	Arabic, French official languages	Under a French mandate from 1920-1943, French language used in schools and universities, and is understood by majority of the population.
	member	1970	Officially trilingual, French included
	member	1970-1977 1989	officially trilingual, French included	former French colony
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	1980	Arabic official language	former French colony, French is an administrative language
	member	1970	English official language	former French colony (first empire), later British colony, French is commonly used
	member	1996	Romanian official language
	member	1970	French official language	former French protectorate
	member	1981	Arabic official language	former French protectorate, French is commonly used
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	1993	Romanian official language	French is understood and spoken by 24% of the population
	member	1970	officially trilingual, French included	former Belgian colony
	member	1981	English official language	Former French and British colony. Antillean Creole a French-based creole language is spoken by 90% of the population.
	member	1999	Portuguese official language	Former Portuguese colony, neighboring French-speaking countries.
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	1976	officially trilingual, French included	former French colony (first empire), later British colony, French is commonly used
	member	1996	Officially quadrilingual, French included	French is the native language of about 20% of all Swiss.
	member	1970	French official language	former French colony
	member	1970	Arabic official language	former French colony, French is commonly used
	member	1979	officially trilingual	former French and British condominium
	member	1970	Vietnamese official language	former French colony
	associate member	2006	Greek and Turkish official languages	French is understood and spoken by 12% of the population , historical ties through the Lusignan rule in the Middle Ages (Kingdom of Cyprus).
	associate member	2006	English official language	country surrounded by French-speaking countries

Observers

Year joined	Language	Notes
2004	Armenian official language	Armenian culture closely tied to France via the Franco-Armenian dynasty of the Kingdom of Cilicia during the Middle Ages. See also: Franco-Armenian relations
2004	German official language	French is spoken by 10% as additional language
2004	Croatian official language	French is understood and spoken by 4% of the population
1999	Czech official language	French is understood and spoken by 2% of the population
2004	Georgian official language
2004	Hungarian official language	French is understood and spoken by 2% of the population
1999	Lithuanian official language	French is understood and spoken by 1% of the population
2006	Portuguese official language	former Portuguese colony
1996	Polish official language	French is understood and spoken by 3% of the population
2006	Serbian official language	French is taught in 1/3 of schools.
2002	Slovak official language	French is spoken by 2% as additional language
1999	Slovenian official language	French is spoken by 4% as additional language
2006	Ukrainian official language

Notes

Francocacophonie has been coined as a portmanteau of Francophone and cacophonie to suggest that those speaking French are not necessarily speaking intelligibly or with one voice.

External links

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